Thursday

SUGARCREEK Capt. Brian Dalton is recovering in an Akron hospital's intensive care unit after being stabbed by a man whom he had stopped for a driving infraction Wednesday morning.

"He is stable and alert and still in ICU currently," Police Chief Kevin Kaser said Thursday morning. "He seems to be doing very well, responding very well. We expect a full recovery at this point."

After being stabbed, Dalton, 37, shot and killed the male suspect. The incident began about 10 a.m. Wednesday on Second Street NW near TMK Farm Service. Kaser said the motorist had driven through a no-trucks zone, damaging property. He stabbed Dalton in the neck with a screwdriver after the being told he would need to appear in court on the property damaging charge.

Kaser said he was at the scene with Dalton initially, but left to respond to another call.

"It's about 10 minutes after I left is when it happened," Kaser said. "Then you ask yourself, 'Well, if I'd have stayed there, would the guy have done it with two of us there?' He may have. He may not have. You don't know what they're thinking. I wish we would have had all the answers, but we don't."

Police have not identified the deceased. Kaser said he was in his 30s and from North Carolina.

"Not all the family has been contacted yet just because he is from out of state, so we're still trying to make those contacts and notifications," he said.

Kaser said he is waiting to release more information about the incident until he hears from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is investigating. Completion is expected no sooner than five months. An autopsy of the deceased will be conducted by the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office.

Wednesday's traumatic occurrences meant a long day for the village's police chief. He spent eight hours at the crime scene and got home from the Wednesday's shift at 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

Along with the injured officer, his wife and family is recovering from the shock of what happened to him.

"They're doing well," Kaser said."They're hanging in there. Now they know he's OK and he's going to recover now, so there's a lot of stress off of that.

"There's the stress of knowing that he's going to come back to the job, and what could have happened. But you always have that stress.

"We train for this stuff because you never know what day it may come. And it may never come at all. You may go through your whole career and never deal with it.

"I've been on the job 20 years and haven't had it happen yet."

Dalton joined the Sugarcreek Police Department in September 2011 and was promoted to captain in July 2018.

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